Why Vasundhara Raje can't shake off those rumours

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is the latest victim of a whispering campaign. 

Never mind that every rumour has proved to be untrue. Once it dies out, another is generated soon enough. The latest has been that she has been frequently meeting Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal, currently out on bail. The reality is that she has met Tejpal only once, in 2012, at Tehelka's Goa THiNK fest, where she was invited as a speaker. 

A few months before that Tehelka had done a cover story on her, accusing her of being behind media exposes on the handing over of Jalmahal, a heritage palace along with the lake around it, and adjoining land worth Rs 3,500 crore, to then Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s friends and financiers.  

Tejpal and his wife are equal partners in a resort project with then project director of Jalmahal project, Rajiv Lunkad and his wife. There were rumours for a few weeks linking Raje and Tejpal before it caught the imagination of the twitterati. Before that, there was another campaign against her, that she had met with Ratnakar Shetty of BCCI to remove her old friend Lalit Modi as president of the RCA (Rajasthan Cricket Association). It turns out, she has never met Shetty.

Ironically, just weeks before this, she was consistently charged with planning Lalit Modi’s comeback to the RCA and the BCCI. Then there was talk of BJP leader Om Mathur being made party president to cut her down to size. When that didn’t happen, another rumour was spread that Mathur would replace her as the chief minister. But the apex of all rumours has been the suggestion that she has bought Raj Mahal, a magnificent heritage hotel with sprawling lawns in the heart of Jaipur. The property was willed to late Bhawani Singh, the last maharaja of Jaipur, by his father Man Singh.

Bhawani Singh’s family has given it for management to Jaisal Singh's Sujan Group, which has rechristened it as Sujan Raj Mahal. Rumours have been the handiwork mostly of Congressmen and her detractors in the media fuelled by her rivals within the BJP. It is difficult to pin point how such rumours could have originated. One can only speculate about how and why these rumours have been disseminated. Raje is close to Jaipur royals and Bhawani Singh’s daughter Diya Kumari is BJP MLA. Raj Mahal’s interiors have been redone by Adil, who is virtually part of Raje's family. Jaisal Singh’s mother Malvika Singh is also close to Raje and is a member of her advisory council.

Raje herself takes keen interest in interiors especially of heritage properties and she visited Raj Mahal during its renovation. She could also have been a part of discussions to involve Adil and Jaisal in Raj Mahal. City Palace, where royals reside, has categorically denied any Raje link to Raj Mahal and has told India Today that it is purely a business decision to lease it to Jaisal Singh.

As for Tejpal, it is rather intriguing how Raje was linked to his comeback. Perhaps Tejpal was planning to make a public comeback with the forthcoming Jaipur Literature Festival. Perhaps his invitation to the Times of India Literary Festival was a means to test the waters, and the association with Raje was tomtommed to regain respectability. Rumours about Modi were built up on the mere presumption that her victory would bring back Lalit Modi. She took no interest in RCA elections held soon after her win in December but Modi cashed on the post election euphoria and won. She has studiously kept her distance from him. It is a good move as some people notorious for being middlemen had started cultivating Modi in the hope of having a say in her government.

But Raje’s disinterest in Modi's future was apparent when the Jaipur Development Authority issued notice to RCA to get back land for a proposed stadium in Jaipur even when Modi had deputed a local builder to work out a proposal for its construction in consultation with international experts who also visited Jaipur for this. On the day when she was said to have held a meeting with Amin Pathan, who removed Modi and Ratnakar Shetty, she was in Delhi on her way to Singapore and other two were in Jaipur.

Om Mathur, who has no base in Rajasthan nor has won any election from here, has been just asked to work for party in Uttar Pradesh.

As for that saying there is no smoke without fire? Well, so far, there is no evidence of any conflagration.